Post-work society

In futurology, political science, and science fiction, a post-work society is a society in which the nature of work has been radically transformed and traditional employment has largely become obsolete due to technological progress.{{cite news |last1=Frayne |first1=David |title=Towards a Post-Work Society |url=https://roarmag.org/magazine/towards-a-post-work-society/ |issue=2 |publisher=ROAR Magazine}}

Some post-work theorists imagine the complete automation of all jobs, or at least the takeover of all monotonous, rule-based, predictable and repetitive (and thus unworthy of humans) tasks in the future by ultimately cheaper, faster, more efficient, more reliable and more accurate intelligent machines.{{Cite news |last=Lynskey |first=Dorian |date=2020-01-09 |title=A World Without Work by Daniel Susskind review – should we be delighted or terrified? |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/09/world-without-work-david-susskind-review |access-date=2023-04-05 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |last=Ox |first=Audit |date=2023-07-27 |title=Chat GPT Creator Sam Altman Says Jobs Will Go Away Because of AI, It Will Not Just Be a Supplement… |url=https://medium.com/@info.auditox/chat-gpt-creator-sam-altman-says-jobs-will-go-away-because-of-ai-it-will-not-just-be-a-supplement-5473a3c7de9b |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=Medium |language=en}} Additionally, these machines can work in harsher conditions and for longer periods of time without stopping than humans,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jan/19/post-work-the-radical-idea-of-a-world-without-jobs|title=Post-work: the radical idea of a world without jobs|last=Beckett|first=Andy|date=19 January 2018|work=The Guardian|accessdate=2018-09-15}} which is expected to lead to a transition period of rapid economic growth, despite high rates of ever-increasing human unemployment.{{Cite web |last=Lu |first=Yiwen |date=2023-06-14 |title=Generative A.I. Can Add $4.4 Trillion in Value to Global Economy, Study Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/technology/generative-ai-global-economy.html |website=New York Times}} Overall, this development is expected to lead to an enormous increase in prosperity, provided that the wealth is redistributed.{{Cite web |title=How AI Could Make Everyone Rich |url=https://www.lifewire.com/how-ai-could-make-everyone-rich-5118282 |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=Lifewire |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Clifford |first=Catherine |date=2021-03-17 |title=OpenAI's Sam Altman: Artificial Intelligence will generate enough wealth to pay each adult $13,500 a year |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/17/openais-altman-ai-will-make-wealth-to-pay-all-adults-13500-a-year.html |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=CNBC |language=en}}

Future directions

Future directions include the reshaping of the human role in the workplace, stressing the relative strengths of humans capable of adapting and integrating technology into their work and interaction.{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.4013/sdrj.2020.131.06 | doi=10.4013/sdrj.2020.131.06 | title=Facing the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Empowering (Human) design agency and capabilities through experimental learning | date=2020 | last1=Bianchini | first1=Massimo | last2=Maffei | first2=Stefano | journal=Strategic Design Research Journal | volume=13 | hdl=11311/1167599 | hdl-access=free }} In addition to these capabilities, scholars emphasize the importance of humans taking advantage of these relative strengths, offering several areas which humans can remain competent in a rapidly developing workplace. These include emotional intelligence, service orientation, resource management skills, communication skills, and entrepreneurship skills.{{Cite journal |last=Kenayathulla |first=Husaina Banu |date=July 2021 |title=Are Malaysian TVET graduates ready for the future? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hequ.12310 |journal=Higher Education Quarterly |language=en |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=453–467 |doi=10.1111/hequ.12310 |issn=0951-5224|url-access=subscription }}

Scholarly literature defines such areas where machines may surpass humans as "task encroachment".{{Cite journal |last=Rolf |first=Steven |date=March 2021 |title=Working in the end times |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ntwe.12186 |journal=New Technology, Work and Employment |language=en |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=114–117 |doi=10.1111/ntwe.12186 |issn=0268-1072|url-access=subscription }} "Task encroachment" presents an issue of growing encroachment of AI and automation into human work, especially in manual and cognitive tasks. It is estimated that approximately 40% of all working hours will be affected by AI models.{{Cite web |last1=Shine |first1=Ian |last2=Whiting |first2=Kate |date=May 4, 2023 |title=These are the jobs most likely to be lost – and created – because of AI |url=https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/05/jobs-lost-created-ai-gpt/ |access-date=October 9, 2024 |website=World Economic Forum}} It has been proposed for humanity to pivot towards roles that require emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, assumed to be more uniquely humans. However, studies show that in some contexts, modern chatbots generate answers that are rated as more empathetic and qualitative than human ones.{{Cite news |title=Google AI chatbot more empathetic than real doctors in tests |url=https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/16/google_ai_chatbot_heathcare/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241212173224/https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/16/google_ai_chatbot_heathcare/ |archive-date=2024-12-12 |access-date=2024-12-29 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Bannon |first=Lisa |date=2023-10-07 |title=Can AI Do Empathy Even Better Than Humans? Companies Are Trying It. |url=https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-empathy-business-applications-technology-fc41aea2 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}

Some theories of a post-work society focus on challenging the priority of the work ethic, and on the celebration of nonwork activities.{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Derek |date=2015-06-23 |title=A World Without Work |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/07/world-without-work/395294/ |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}} These theories also underscore the importance of developing community-based activities and self-improvement programs to fill the void left by traditional labor structures.

Near-term practical proposals closely associated with post-work theory include the implementation of a universal basic income,{{Cite web |date=2020-02-18 |title=This Is How We'll Live When the Government Gives Us All a Basic Income |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/basic-income-could-change-how-americans-value-work-and-themselves/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last= |last2= |last3= |first3= |date=2021-02-12 |title=What Will We All Do in a Post-Work Society? |url=https://www.treehugger.com/what-will-we-all-do-post-work-society-4867186 |access-date=2022-10-23 |website=Treehugger |language=en}} as well as the reduction of the length of a working day and the number of days of a working week. Increased focus on what post-work society would look like has been driven by reports such as one in 2018 that states 47% of jobs in the United States could be automated.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/opinion/view/404|title=Automation and the future of work – understanding the numbers|last1=Frey|first1=Carl Benedikt|last2=Osborne|first2=Michael|date=13 April 2018|website=Oxford Martin School|access-date=2 May 2019}} Because of increasing automation and the low price of maintaining an automated workforce compared to one dependent on human labor, it has been suggested that post-work societies would also be ones of post-scarcity.{{Cite web|url=https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/page1-econ/2018/01/02/will-robots-take-our-jobs|title=Will Robots Take Our Jobs?|last=Wolla|first=Scott A.|date=1 January 2018|website=Economic Research - St. Louis Fed|access-date=2 May 2019}}{{Cite web|title=Traditional employment is becoming obsolete|url=https://www.futuretimeline.net/23rdcentury/2200-2249.htm#trends-in-working-hours-2050-2100-2200-future-timeline|access-date=2021-08-27|website=www.futuretimeline.net}}

According to Nick Bostrom, advanced artificial intelligence has the potential to not only automate jobs and create abundance, but also undermine the purpose of many leisure activities, such as shopping, gardening, or even parenting.{{Cite news |date=2024-04-05 |title=Opinion {{!}} If A.I. Takes All Our Jobs, Will It Also Take Our Purpose? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/opinion/ai-jobs-nick-bostrom.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241227122920/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/opinion/ai-jobs-nick-bostrom.html |archive-date=2024-12-27 |access-date=2024-12-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en}}

Post-work society

Future directions

See also

References

Further reading